It's an unusally fine day in Gullane (pronounced both Gill-in and Gull-in depending on which side of town you are from!) with just a slight warm sea breeze leaving players and spectators in short sleeved shirts. Gullane is derived from the gaelic word meaning shoulder or ridge and it describes the land the courses Gullane 1,2 ,3 and the children's course are on and they have been golfing here since the 1800's !!
Having stood at the top of the hill on the champions tee at the 6th is one of the finest views I have ever seen. You can clearly see Edinburgh 20 miles to the east, all the majesty of the Firth of Forth and eight different courses that dot East Lothian on Scotland's Golf Coast including Muirfield just a mile away.
Play is well under way on the championship course, reputed to have the best set of greens of any of the links championship courses, and as always, with little wind and blue skies the pros will go low today unless the breeze picks up for the afternoon flight that features Phil Mickelson, and defending champion Justin Rose paired together along with Scottish favourite Marc Warren
With the morning wave coming in as I write this (remember Scotland is 5 hours ahead of EST) the Dane Thorbjorn Olesen one of the few playing in a toque went out in 32, has just birdied 3 in a row to finish at -7 (Gullane is a par 70), 2 shots clear with the lead.
In the clubhouse at -5 65 are England's Matthew Nixon ranked 525 in the world an Spain's Adrian Otaegui ranked 506 !!! Graham McDowell is at -4 66. Jimmy Walker is going well -5 65 and Rickie Fowler is in with -4 66 as well
There are no Canadians in the field but there are 123 bunkers !! and as I remember there are still a few anti tank cement blocks left from World War II stationed all along Scotland's east coast in case Hitler's troops made it as far as Scotland to invade.. We all know that result..
What we don't know is the result here... The weather forecast is pretty good, especially considering it often blows sideways on this exposed shoulder of land https://www.google.ca/?gws_rd=ssl#q=weather+forecast+for+gullane+golf+club...
Update 215 est
europeantour.com Thorbjørn Olesen carded a flawless seven under par 63 to set an electric pace during the opening round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Gullane.
The Dane posted seven birdies, the last of them coming from 30 feet on the penultimate hole, to hold a two shot clubhouse advantage over England’s Matthew Nixon, Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and American Jimmy Walker.
"It's been a tough time but I keep working on the right things and hopefully it will come," said Olesen, who lost a play-off for the Mauritius Open in May after three months on the sidelines due to surgery on a hand injury. "I showed today I can still shoot low rounds.
"I hit almost every green - only missing the 18th - and hit a lot of fairways and greens today, which was the key."
This year's hand injury is not the only problem Olesen has suffered since finishing sixth in the Masters in 2013, the 25 year old famously injuring his groin falling off a camel in Dubai.
"When I had to get down I pulled a muscle in my groin and it took a few weeks before I could walk properly again," two-time European Tour winner Olesen added.
Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell enjoyed a welcome return to form before bogeying the last two holes to fall into a tie for fifth on four under, with Ryder Cup opponents Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar alongside him
The Dane posted seven birdies, the last of them coming from 30 feet on the penultimate hole, to hold a two shot clubhouse advantage over England’s Matthew Nixon, Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and American Jimmy Walker.
"It's been a tough time but I keep working on the right things and hopefully it will come," said Olesen, who lost a play-off for the Mauritius Open in May after three months on the sidelines due to surgery on a hand injury. "I showed today I can still shoot low rounds.
"I hit almost every green - only missing the 18th - and hit a lot of fairways and greens today, which was the key."
This year's hand injury is not the only problem Olesen has suffered since finishing sixth in the Masters in 2013, the 25 year old famously injuring his groin falling off a camel in Dubai.
"When I had to get down I pulled a muscle in my groin and it took a few weeks before I could walk properly again," two-time European Tour winner Olesen added.
Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell enjoyed a welcome return to form before bogeying the last two holes to fall into a tie for fifth on four under, with Ryder Cup opponents Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar alongside him
Phil Mickelson is just in at -1 69, Justin Rose the defending champion is at -4 66.
Bryan
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